The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1887-02-24
FICTION IN POLITICS.


There is ordinarily little use in pay
Ing any attention to political announce
ments unless the evidence is cOnclu
sively given. The art of correct state
ment in print about leaders and partie
has disappeared from almost ever,
newspaper. If politician says thin:
himself in a letter or speech that i
one thing. If in any journal, which
he can not be suspected of making hi
medium, an announcement is mad,
concerning him, the announcement
may be accepted as certainly incorrect
No list of current inaccuries can b,
made complete. A few signal ones
however, can be referred to.
Shortly after Mr.. Tilden's death, fol
instance, a writer on the New Yorl
Sun, A. N. Gibson, said that Mr. Til
den had mailed to President Cleveland
a copy of his (Mr. Tilden's) letter OF
coast defenses, which was formally adj
dressed to Speaker Carlisle Mr.. Glib
son said: "Mr. Tilden read to me the
letter himself and in my presence dis
patched copy to Mr.. Cleveland.
This was written long after the letter
had become public, and shortly subsc
quent to Mr.. T'ildcn's death. The in.
tention was to acquit Mr.. Tildcn of the
charge that had been brought against
him at the time of the publication OF
the letter, to the effect that he had
taken a good deal on himself in adj
dressing Congress through the Speak.
er, in advance of the Presidents mes
sage. on National subject, over the
Presidents head. Mr.. Tildcn had never
met the charge. JOHN Bigclow, Man.
ton Marble and Andrew H. Green had
never refuted it. They were the mel
of all men who would be expected t.
do so, for they did much of Mr.. Til
den writing business for him. g. w
Smith, Mr.. Tilden's secretary, ha.
never met that charge. A. NJ. Gibson
sought to meet it with an explicitness
that was unmistakable. His statement
was accepted and commented on adj
versely TO Iir. Cleveland by all the anti
Cleveland papers, among which was
many paper that had been anti-Til-
den, until ii could use a mock respect
for Tilden as u club with which to hit
Cleveland.
The fact that the men reported to be
nearest TO Mr.. Tilden never dealt with
this matter has been referred to to at
tach to Mr.. Gibson's statement this ap-
pendiX: Mr.. Cleveland never received
any copy of that letter from Mr.. Til
den or any one else. The first he ever
saw of it was when he opened the
morning papers and found it in them
The authority for this statement is the
President himself. He is not a liar.
He is not dead. No one need wait I'M
I'll after his death to deny that he re-
ccived it or inquire of others than he
whether he ever received it. He is
alive. He can be asked any time.
This declaration is made without any
design of rejecting on A. NJ. Gibson :
certainty that he saw the letter mailed
10 Mr.. Cleveland. 1t may have mis-
carried. The man to whom it was in
trusted for mailing may have lost it.
The onl y thing that is surely fact in
the case is that Mr.. Cleveland never
received that letter He never
adopted and never has concerned HIM
self about the theory of having been
Sighted by the fact of the letter not
having been sent to him. Small sug-
gestions do not affect him. But he has
an opinion of that comment which has
been based on the allegation that he
did receive the letter and took no no.
tee of it.
Another statement has been as posi-
lively made to the effect that the Prcsi-
dents sister, Miss r. f. Cleveland,
wrote that part of his first message
about Mormonism. The statement
was made in a way to be offensive to
the President and the lady. 1t could
not have been more positively made
had it been made by either or both of
them. 1t was and is an an absolutely
RUTHLESS statement. The lady knew
nothing about that or any other part
of the message until she read it in the
papers. Intrinsically the state ment,
true or false, was unimpOrtant. Nor
ally it has the character which any en-
tirely false declaration, large or small,
has The squibs, Slurs, argument.l-
tons and overt or covert sneers built
up on this often-reiterated lie have not
been few. They are multiplied con-
stantly. A quiet man in Washing
ton and a studious lady at Holland
Patent know at least two things: One.
that the statement is an untruth; two,
hat those who originate it and period
cally reissue it are aware that it is an
OF that impurity of the mind !
which lie denotes, they also have an
opinion.
As often and as specifically as the two |
declarations indicated are made appears |
another to the effect that Mr. Daniel |
Manning developed Grover Cleveland as |
candidate for Governor at Syracuse, in |
1882, and elected him to the office. |
Mr.. Manning controlled the Albany
delegation at that convention. The
delegates voted against Cleveland on
Every ballot from first to last in that
man excepted, Rufus
y. Peckham, who insisted on voting for
lin and who did it alone. The eleven
'thers voted for Slocum on every bal
OF, including the last pursuant to a